Itsuki was feeling excited riding on the back of Koutetsu's motorcycle, she had never done this before it was a first in her life. She would later lean in more to wrap her arms tighter around his waist when she felt like she would fall. It didn't bother Koutetsu because in his mind she was trying to be safe, with no hidden motive behind it. During the ride, Itsuki began to flashback to the days leading up to her first encounter with Koutetsu at their grade school. Looking back at it now, she remembered how they became friends with their opposite lifestyles and personalities. It was a puzzlement in the beginning, but not now she was just grateful for the experience.
Itsuki's family was different from most of the others in the Five Family dynamic. Unlike the other four, her parents were not snobby, elitist, or money-driven. They in fact hated the way the others acted when she was a kid, the way they looked down on those who were not the same lifestyle as them or from wealthy households. In the present time now, the Mizuno family changed thanks to the new head, and even the Kensei Family was making an effort. Save for the Kurogane and Sasaki houses which remained the same even after the years passed.
Itsuki remembered when Ayaka slapped her hand when she refused to give her food to a homeless person on the streets. It seemed pointless to Itsuki since the homeless would die eventually from disease and starvation, she didn't understand why it would make a difference in that second.
Back at her home Ayaka was reading her a fairytale book before bedtime. Itsuki never admitted to anyone except to her parents and later to Koutetsu but she loved fairytale stories. Didn't matter if it was romance, adventure, or dark fantasy it always made her feel happy hearing stories of gallant heroes, mythical creatures, or triumphant love conquering evil, she loved them all.
Ayaka was finishing the book on Snow White and the Seven Dwarves when Itsuki asked her a question that had been gnawing at her mind for a while now.
"Mommy, why did you slap my hand earlier?"
Ayaka stopped reading to see her daughter's confused look. That was the first she ever interrupted her during a story.
"Why you ask?"
Itsuki nodded.
"Hmm, well because you wouldn't help someone who needed it. You're young so you may not understand it well. But nothing is more sinful than ignoring someone who needs help when you have the ability to save them."
Itsuki didn't understand. She never saw anyone in the other families, including the kids be nice to someone who wasn't in their league. To her at the time it was normal, nothing new.
"I don't get it, Mommy. Won't that person die anyway being homeless? Why should I give up my food if it won't change anything, I don't want to starve if it doesn't change the outcome."
Ayaka was shaken by that, her face filled with concern for her child's good nature on the line. She closed the book and sat it on the nightstand next to her. She didn't yell or scold Itsuki, instead, she rubbed Itsuki's hair with a gentle smile.
"Sweetie, even if it seemed hopeless at that time, it's better to show some kindness so that person didn't die in the pain they were. Do you know why we're so different from the others? When magic first formed there were more families like ours. However, their arrogance brought about their downfall, and the people they discriminated against rose up to take their vengeance on them, committing their own personal justice against their oppressors. Over time it got worse, with wealth and power, people began to show their true colors and how cruel they could be because it was just easier to be heartless than being a good person."
Itsuki was intrigued. It was like listening to her stories, she could her mother's tone and how important this lesson was for her to hear.
"During World War II when everyone went fighting and died do you remember what happened at that time to Hiroshima and Nagasaki?"
"Didn't big bombs blow them up, Mommy?"
"Yes, that was a tragedy that should never be repeated. But afterward, it was made worse by a former Great Family. During that time, this family profited from the misery of the survivors and their desperation. They made them work in labor camps so they could feed their children even when It was just soup and bread. They stole land with underhanded tactics, used their connections to make drugs that caused severe addictions so people would stay under their control."
Itsuki's emotions ran high. She never heard a story like this before. Let alone one that was a part of history. It made her feel horrified.
"One day, you're Great Great Grandmother found out what they did. Enraged, she ordered for their social execution, she took all their wealth and gave it back to the people, banishing the bad people from the Great Family hierarchy. From that day she vowed to set the example so no one would ever let money or upper-class nobility ruin lives and for us to be better as human beings in this world. Even after the Ghast virus came and all the terrorists and monsters with it, our family never changed. Sweetie what I'm saying is, even if it's easy to hurt someone or just ignore them cause they're not like us, it'll never make it ok. You must always treat someone with kindness even if you don't want to."
Ayaka looked hard at Itsuki, she was hoping the words got through to her. Itsuki was young, she didn't really understand what the story was supposed to mean but she tried to for her Mother's sake.
It was difficult for her to live by those words after hearing them. Ayaka had enrolled Itsuki in public school to help see how other kids lived. Itsuki hated it at first when she arrived, she was teased a lot almost every day. Kids bullied her for being rich, it was common for those jealous of others having advantages they wished that had. They would tease her relentlessly, play terrible pranks, and in one instance burn her shoes just for the fun of it.
It came to the point where she didn't believe in the words her Mother said. Itsuki wanted to be like those elitists and just look down on the kids and get payback on them. Till the day came, when one changed her hopeless outlook.
It started like any other day, the change being the teacher made an announcement for the classroom.
"Class today we have a new student entering. I hope you can all get along with each other. Please come on and introduce yourself."
Itsuki and the class looked at the door. There she saw him. A kid her age, emanating a strong aura, and smug smile. He stood in front of the teacher, his young face portraying an attitude with it.
"Hello, my name is Hayashi Koutetsu. Nice to meet you all. Oh, also I'm a Prime Caliber."
The class was silent for a second till it uproared in bewilderment. Even Itsuki thought he was lying to look good on day one, being born a Prime Caliber was a one-in-a-million shot. The teacher confirmed it was true, the information was disclosed during his registration.
The students in class at first wanted to befriend him. But Koutetsu didn't exactly start off as friendly, he was rude to those that tried to suck up to him, he insulted them when they tried showing off their educational skills, and at one point he called them monkeys when he outshined them in perfect scores.
Everyone wanted to bully him now because of how pompous he was, the problem was he was smarter than them. The last life of bullying let him catch on early signs of pranks, he even took revenge by playing harsher ones. Even getting some students expelled with his schemes.
Itsuki wondered why he was such a prick to everyone. He never really talked to students in social gatherings or free period, he ate alone in the school, and whenever school ended he was always in a hurry to go home and get away from everyone, like he hated being near crowds.
Itsuki at one point caught up to him when he was rigging a kid's locker after said kid tried to steal Koutetsu's bento box. She wanted to tell him off for his little scheme.
"Just what is your problem?"
"Hmm."
"Why do you treat everyone so badly? What did they ever do to you? You're a jerk!"
Koutetsu groaned at Itsuki's tantrum, he hated seeing kids that act like spoiled brats. However, he understood what she was conveying in her words. He recognized the pain of being bullied like that, he couldn't just not answer her after having a similar feeling from before come back to him.
"Look, I'm not here to make friends. I like being alone, I'm only here because I have to be. And why do I do this, those little monkeys don't have to listen to me or take my insults they could choose to just ignore me and not care. They're the ones who struck first with their antics I'm just finishing it off so they'll back off."
"You started it with that attitude. You have as much responsibility in your actions too."
"Oh please, if everything is started by someone having a bad attitude, then the world would have blown up already. Nobody has to take what I say at all, that's their choice. If I was them I would just ignore me and get on with my life. Nothing gets gained by throwing a fit just cause you're a kid."
Koutetsu didn't go through with rigging the locker, he changed his mind. It was hard to admit, but he was going too far with his retaliation. Itsuki was right in that he did start it with harsh words and bad mannerisms to the kids. His feeling of being the one to get back at others instead of being the victim for once clouded his judgment.
He took off to leave with Itsuki still pouting at him in disgust at his logic of handling how he interacted with others.
She started to get annoyed with him more often after that, one afternoon she went to give him a piece of her mind when she couldn't take it anymore. Itsuki couldn't let Koutetsu carry on like there were no repercussions to his actions.
She went to find him ready to freeze his head into a block of ice, looking all around the spots she recognized him hiding when he wanted to be left alone. She looked till she saw the sight that changed her mind about him.
The kids in school who bullied her started picking on her little sister, Kaede after she had left the car by herself to walk Itsuki back. Since Koutetsu was too smart for the bullies they went back to making Itsuki their target, unfortunately, they targeted Kaede to step up their game. Itsuki was furious, she couldn't believe how low they would stoop this time.
Itsuki ran to get outside and defend Kaede, trying to avoid falling over her feet or letting herself become too emotional since high emotions or unstable ones could cause magic backfire. During her mad rush, she saw Koutetsu walk up behind one of the students and slapped them hard enough to knock them to the ground, he had hit the point where he had enough of the display of idiocy happening.
The students panicked, and the one Koutetsu slapped tried playing the victim.
"How dare you, I'm a girl. You can't hit me!"
"Oh shut up, for one I'm an equal opportunity punisher, and second you're playing wounded deer when you guys were ganging up on a little girl younger than you. You disgust me! Piss off!!!"
The students saw the hate in his eyes. Koutetsu may have been acting in his power since rebirth, but even he would never stoop so low as to bully someone weaker than him, pulling a prank or back talk may be as far as he would take, but not bullying a little child who couldn't defend herself. He lived that life already.
The students left frightened running to their parents. It was the start of the mean looks and gossip for Koutetsu amongst the parental community, but he didn't care. He was happy helping Kaede, that was enough for him. Koutetsu walked up to the crying Kaede, he started soothing her by actually being nice, he just wanted to do something good for someone for once in his second life.
"There, there little one. Bad people are gone now. There, there it's ok."
Itsuki saw everything, she looked so out of place at what she just witnessed. The words her Mother said, were true after all. Koutetsu was a jerk, he was rude, and he was like the people her Mother described in being arrogant, yet he did something kind not expecting anything in return. She was teary-eyed at the sight, she had to thank him for what he did.
Kaede saw Itsuki coming outside, she ran to her sister hugging her tight. Koutetsu tried walking off till Itsuki called him out.
"Hey, umm, why did you help her? I don't get it there was nothing in it for you. Why now all the sudden you decided to be a good person, I don't understand you."
Koutetsu stopped walking, he gave a heavy sigh. He didn't realize it was Itsuki's sister he helped. She called him out earlier on his character which irritated him, he owed it, however, to be honest. It was the first time he felt like a hero in a way, he couldn't help but be a little proud of himself.
"Why, I guess. I guess I don't like seeing the strong pick on the weak for no reason. It's dumb honestly. And hey, about what you said the other day. You're right, I did start this in a way. I didn't mean for your sister to pay the price. My bad. Later."
Itsuki felt that, like an arrow piercing her heart. She was bullied a lot for her status. The kids messed with her and now attacked her sister, yet here a kid who could be just as bad as them chose not to be, bad attitude maybe, but not a bully like the others. She couldn't help but cry a bit.
"Huh, Nee-Chan. Why are you crying?" Itsuki wiped her eyes to give her sister a smile.
"Because, I think I just witnessed a real-life fairytale happen, an unexpected Prince Charming saved a little Princess."
Kaede was confused but smiled hearing her sister call her a Princess. From then on, Itsuki started trying to talk to Koutetsu more often, she didn't put up with his antics still, but she was honest and fought back when needed. Koutetsu slowly started letting her be around him more often, he would still feel uneasy about being near her but it was getting better as time went on. They got along as friends, even if he didn't admit it at first till the incident.
Itsuki finished her flashback, she looked at Koutetsu's back, she couldn't believe how long it was ago. She smiled as she began to look at the scenery again during the ride.
'I wonder, was it then I started to think fondly of him after he showed he could change, or maybe it was because he was different from others like in my life. Maybe he wasn't the Prince Charming for me like he was to Kaede. Maybe, he was the beast who looked mean but had a good heart all along. I'm happy I met him, and I'm happy he's back, couldn't ask for more than this right now.' Fairytales were a great inspiration to real life, they could come true when they were least expected to. Maybe that's why Itsuki was the way she was. She needed to see it to help her see the good in the world, and in people.